Lithuanian cuisine recipes. What to try: Lithuanian national dishes

Lithuanian national cuisine has evolved over time.

Despite the similarities with the cuisines of other nations of Eastern Europe, Lithuanian cuisine has those distinctive features that make it one of the most idiosyncratic and idiosyncratic in this region.

Among the Baltic cuisine, Lithuanian national cuisine is distinguished by its historical closeness to Slavic cuisines and relatively little influence of German cuisine.

A Brief History of the Development of Lithuanian National Cuisine

Historically, two culinary trends have developed in Lithuania:

• Old Lithuanian cuisine (XIV-XVIII centuries);
• Novolitovskaya cuisine (from the second half of XIX in.).

The Starolitovskaya direction developed as the cuisine of the privileged estates of Lithuanian society - the gentry. At that time, Lithuania largely determined gastronomic fashion Europe.

It is Lithuania that is considered the ancestor of serving snacks to the table: in aristocratic estates, even in the reception room, guests were treated to various smoked meat and fish meats.

Based on local raw materials, the cuisine organically combined the features of Lithuanian, Russian, Polish culinary traditions with the influence of German and Tatar cuisine.

The cuisine of this period was characterized fine dining with a complex recipe - Samogitian goose soup, smoked eel stuffed with mushrooms and veal, bull stuffed with game and others.

With the collapse of the Commonwealth at the end of the XVIII century. and the gradual disappearance of the gentry layer old kitchen is gradually replacing the Novolitovskaya cuisine, which was based on peasant traditions cooking. The basis of the dishes began to be potatoes, meat and dairy products, rye bread.

Food was seasonal in nature - in summer more vegetables and fish were consumed, in winter food was more satisfying (at that time pigs were slaughtered).

From anywhere the globe you will always be able to receive one of the largest airlines in Lithuania -. You can find out about the services that it can offer both on our website and on the official website of the airport terminal.

And the following materials will help you independently collect documents for a visa to Lithuania.

Characteristic features of Lithuanian national cuisine

Compared to Estonian and Latvian cuisine, Lithuanian cuisine is the least "marine", it can be called "forest": it actively uses game dishes, honey and berries.

Lithuanian cuisine characterized by the following typical features:

• simple recipe dishes (a small number of food combinations);
• an abundance of starchy foods (potato, flour and cereals);
• widespread use of meat dishes (mainly pork);
• active consumption of dairy dishes, especially sour cream and cheeses;
• discreet use of spices when cooking (the most popular spices are cumin and marjoram).

Traditional Lithuanian dishes

In modern Lithuanian cuisine, breakfast is quite hearty: it is served with cereals, scrambled eggs in bacon, bread, cheese, butter, pancakes, tea or coffee.

Lithuanian soups

For lunch, the first course is served (soup or borscht), a variety of meat, fish and potato dishes. A feature of Lithuanian cuisine is diversity recipes for first courses - from hot to sweet soups and cold borscht.

Traditional mushrooms are served on the table. borscht with "ears" in Lithuanian, tomato soup with rice, cabbage soup with smoked meats, Samogitian beer soup, cold kefir borscht.

Second courses in Lithuania

For the second, they usually use a variety of potato dishes– Lithuanians’ favorite product: vederai (potato sausages), Žemaičiu blinai (potato pancakes with minced meat), švilpikai (baked potato sticks with sauce), ploksteinis (potato pudding) and many others.

Popular meat zrazy, a variety of pork dishes ( kumpis- pork hams, various meat rolls), goose; beef and lamb are used much less frequently. Fish dishes of Lithuanian cuisine are mostly stewed or baked. Famous seaside delicacy countries - smoked eel.

Among the flour dishes are dumplings, dumplings (sorcerer), pancakes with various fillings. Compared to potato dishes, porridges are less popular in Lithuania. Most often, a traditional dish is prepared from cereals - shupinis.

Drinks in Lithuania

Popular drinks in the country are kvass, various herbal teas, "cumin water" - a decoction of cumin seeds. Lithuanians are big fans of strong natural coffee (instant coffee not popular in the country).

What are the must-try dishes in Lithuania?

A visit to Lithuania will not be complete if you do not enjoy the taste of dishes that are a kind of calling card countries.

The most famous national dish of Lithuania is zeppelins - large dumplings of a peculiar shape with all sorts of fillings - from vegetables, meat, cottage cheese ... With their own name zeppelins owe to the German airships of the early 20th century - during the First World War, the country's territory was occupied by German troops.

Of the first courses, cold borscht enjoys well-deserved popularity. “shaltibarshchiai”- beetroot on kefir with separately served boiled potatoes with dill.

Lithuanians prefer a light dinner, which is served with dairy dishes - soups, cottage cheese and a variety of cheeses.

Of the main courses, you should try the traditional skilandis - pork smoked in a pig's stomach with spices, or enjoy the heritage of the Old Litovian cuisine - fiery hunting kobaskas. For a side dish, you can try kugelis - potato casserole or plocksteinis, an oven-baked egg-potato pudding with melted lard and fried onion gravy.

Do not neglect bread in Lithuania, especially black bread. Black Lithuanian bread, recognized one of the best in the world, has a unique taste and can be stored for up to two months.

Of the desserts, apple and curd cheese are especially popular, shvyturis - a cake with walnuts and šakotis, the national Lithuanian cake.

Lithuania is famous not only for its cuisine, but also for its beautiful places, such as which you can also find in our articles.

Not less than beautiful landscapes hidden in neighboring Estonia – the beauty of Old Tallinn will not leave indifferent even the most sophisticated traveler! about another fascinating Estonian walking route.

Well, of course, you will certainly want to learn about the picturesque corners of Latvia, in which we will also help you! - all about the sights of Sigulda, an amazing Latvian resort on the Gauja River.

Traditional wedding dish, an unusually shaped cake made of egg dough is cooked on an open fire. A masterpiece of culinary art cooked on a spit has excellent taste and can last for a long time. (up to six months) be stored.

As for non-alcoholic drinks, you should try kvass, which is prepared in many recipes in Lithuania. Beer fans will enjoy a trip to Lithuania, because the country is a real beer kingdom: more is known here 200 recipes brewing. It is no coincidence that “beer” tourism has been actively developing in the country recently.

The most famous beer is Švyturys, produced in Klaipeda since 1784. In any beer bar offered to choose from a dozen a variety of snacks for beer - grilled kobaski, garlic croutons, dry cheese and many others.

Among strong alcoholic drinks, you should definitely taste the national Lithuanian balm "Suktinis", which has the status of the country's culinary heritage.

Strong (50 degrees) honey tincture is made according to an old recipe. It includes black currants, raspberries, juniper berries, poplar buds and other valuable plants.

Lithuanians prefer fast food traditional National dishes, so you can try them in numerous cafes and restaurants. Lithuanian cuisine restaurants in Vilnius and beyond will always be able to offer you a varied menu. Wide range of Lithuanian dishes national cuisine will not leave you indifferent true gourmets.

The cuisine of this small Baltic state with a complex history was formed in villages and villages. Even the nobility preferred simple and hearty dishes. Unlike other European countries, here you will not find exquisite, intricately decorated desserts ─ everything is prepared very simply, but it turns out to be really satisfying.

Features of national cuisine

The main part of Lithuanian desserts is prepared on the basis of butter, eggs and cottage cheese, creams are not in favor here, but numerous casseroles and pies with various fillings can be found in any cafe.

Since all dishes were originally made by villagers, they are adapted to little expense time. On average, the hostess takes from 30 minutes to one hour for the most complex dessert.

Top 5 most popular desserts

Lithuanian guests first of all note an unusual cake that you will not find anywhere else ─ shakotis. Its name translates as "branched tree", which is explained unusual shape cake. According to legend, the young court cook made it by accident when he spilled the dough on a skewer. The queen liked the result so much that she rewarded the cook, and the cake became the main delicacy.

The recipe for šakotis is more than three hundred years old, but it does not lose popularity, and you can find it in any store in Lithuania.

Another culinary delight is donuts with cottage cheese, which are prepared in the form of small balls. You won’t find them in the store - it’s more like a homemade delicacy, but in the cafe of national cuisine, as a rule, they are prepared.

Also became a homemade dish and carrot casserole, which children adore for its sweet taste and saturated color, and parents - for the usefulness and ease of preparation.

An analogue of the Russian "anthill", only from puff pastry, cake scruzdelinas, prepared on holidays in most Lithuanian families. Thin petals of dough, smeared with honey, are stacked in a pile, after which they are left unattended and immediately plundered by children.

Well, the simplest sweet dish is the well-known chocolate "sausage" in Russia with cookies or shortcrust pastry. It takes 15 minutes to prepare, but it lasts for a long time ─ it is very satisfying.

Shakotis recipe

For cooking you will need: ten eggs, a pack butter, 250 grams of flour, 150 grams of sugar, 2 grams of lemon essence, one and a half glasses of cream, 20 grams of cognac.

Cooking process: grind butter with sugar until a homogeneous mass is formed, adding eggs one at a time, beat. Then add flour, cream, essence and cognac. Bake at a temperature of 80 ° C, gradually adding the dough layer by layer.

If you don’t have a special wooden pipe for baking, you can bake a cake in the form, but then the twigs that give it a unique flavor, unfortunately, will not work.

Of course, Lithuanian cuisine is not as unusual as, for example, French cuisine, but with the right approach, you can find many interesting and delicious meals that will delight you and your loved ones.

Lithuanian cuisine uses products available in the cool and humid Lithuanian climate: potatoes, barley, rye, beets, herbs, mushrooms, dairy products, meat. Many dishes of the Lithuanian national cuisine are very similar to the traditional dishes of other Eastern European nations, but it also has its own distinctive features which distinguish Lithuanian cuisine and make it one of the most distinctive cuisines in the region.

Without a doubt, the most popular Lithuanian dish is zeppelins - potato dumplings. huge size with meat stuffing(less often - with cottage cheese), which are usually served with cracklings. Many Lithuanians consider this dish to be their original, but this opinion is erroneous - very similar dishes are observed in other national cuisines, in particular, in Polish and Czech.

In general, Lithuanian traditional cuisine is very closely related to Polish, many dishes are equally popular in both countries - dumplings, dumplings, pancakes, donuts. The German influence is also palpable: the Germans taught the Lithuanians how to cook numerous pork and potato dishes. Lithuanian cuisine, recipes with photos of which are presented in this section, has a lot of common dishes with Belarusian cuisine - these are potato pancakes and pancakes, potato pancakes, potato sausages. Influenced on the features of Lithuanian cuisine and Jews, and even the Tatars-Karaites.

As in other Baltic countries, Lithuania has a very diverse menu of cold snacks. The ancestors of modern Lithuanians worked a lot in the field, and therefore it was cold snacks that you could take with you from home that formed the basis of their diet. Today these are all kinds of cheeses, dairy products, smoked meat and fish products, sausages.

Incredibly wide range of hot dishes. Today, the most popular dishes of the Lithuanian national cuisine are the aforementioned zeppelins, all kinds of potato pancakes and casseroles (in particular, Samogitian pancakes and Jewish kugel), boiled potatoes with curdled milk, dumplings, dumplings, cabbage rolls, meatballs, zrazy. Obviously, many of these dishes are not originally Lithuanian, but in Lithuania they have taken root very well and acquired local flavors. It is also worth noting that Lithuanian cuisine consists mainly of fatty and hearty dishes, but this does not prevent Lithuanians from being the most slender nation in Europe - it is in Lithuania that the smallest percentage of obese people. It's a paradox, but it's true.

Another incredibly popular Lithuanian dish, which in its popularity is able to compete even with zeppelins, is Lithuanian cold borscht shaltibarschai. Again, many Lithuanians tend to attribute the authorship of this dish to their people, although in reality this cold beetroot soup is well known in Poland, Latvia, and Belarus. One way or another, this cold beetroot soup on kefir, which is always served with separately boiled hot potatoes, is the most popular dish on the table of every Lithuanian in the warm season. In the cold season, hot soups are very popular, which are not much different from soups common in neighboring countries - these are borscht, pickle, cabbage soup, pea soup and etc.

An integral part of any meal is Lithuanian black bread. If you ask any Lithuanian living outside the homeland what he misses most in a foreign country, he will immediately answer - Lithuanian black bread.

When it comes to Lithuanian drinks, the undoubted leader here is beer. Lithuanians are a beer nation. The Lithuanians originally adopted the brewing traditions from the Germans, but subsequently developed them to such an extent that today Lithuanian beer is considered by experts to be one of the best in the world. Ordinary bottled beer, produced by the largest Lithuanian brewing companies and sold in supermarkets, can outperform many of its Czech and German counterparts, but despite this, Lithuanians prefer to buy draft beer, which is brewed by dozens of small breweries throughout Lithuania. In addition to beer, popular and strong alcoholic drinks- especially various herbal tinctures. Popular non-alcoholic drinks are unoriginal - tea, coffee, kvass and compotes.

Traditional Lithuanian desserts are not much different from Polish ones - donuts, pies with apples and other sweet fillings, brushwood, chocolate. Worthy of special mention is a cake called Šakotis, a large tree-shaped birthday cake also popular in Poland and Germany.

Today, Lithuanian cuisine is known all over the world and loved by many. Her distinctive features- simplicity, simplicity, conciseness, the use of the most common products. That is what she is famous for.

But few people know that along with the Lithuanian culinary school, there is also the Starolith one. And they differ from each other in the same way as a peasant woman differs from a noble lady. The traditions of the Old Lithuanian cuisine were formed from the 14th to the 18th century, and today many of its wonderful recipes are, unfortunately, forgotten. It was focused on noble gentlemen, at whose court real feasts were held. In the case of the Old Lithuanian cuisine, everything is as follows: it is characterized by the most complex recipe, an abundance of ingredients bordering on excess, and the most daring combinations of products are also not uncommon for it. Traditional cuisine Lithuania is much more accessible and simple. Perhaps some recipes will replenish your cookbook.

First meal

What to serve for dinner? We often answer this question quite unequivocally: hot, salty and liquid, preferably with meat. But the first dishes of Lithuanian cuisine are sometimes sweet. And some of them are served cold. Very popular recipe sweet soup with dumplings.

To prepare it, boil a glass of water, add 4-5 prunes, a pinch of cinnamon and citric acid. Season with sugar to taste. While the soup is boiling, knead the dough from one yolk and 2 tablespoons of flour. We form small dumplings, dip into boiling soup. It is recommended to serve this dish with sour cream. Prunes can be replaced with plums or apples.

Zrazy

If you decide to discover such a phenomenon as Lithuanian cuisine, you will have to master the recipes first of all. They are very common, unusual, diverse. Famous Lithuanian cepelinai was invented in the deep Middle Ages, and is more characteristic of the Old Litovian cuisine, because it was served at the best feasts of the state. But his adapted recipe went to the people. In fact, it is a kind of zrazy.

To prepare the zeppelin, grate 15 raw and 3 boiled potatoes. Knead the dough by adding 1-2 eggs and a little rye flour to it. We prepare the filling from boiled beef (500 g). Boil the formed zrazy in boiling water and serve with sour cream and herbs.

Lithuanian includes many recipes for zrazy. They are not only boiled in broth, but also fried in breadcrumbs, baked in the oven. Not always a "wrap" is made from potatoes, although this recipe is the most common. Often the filling is wrapped in minced meat or chop.

Popular filling options: minced boiled meat, liver and boiled liver, wild mushrooms, smoked lard, lard mixed with bread, whole or chopped eggs.

Meat dishes

Many Lithuanian meat dishes have analogues among others folk cuisines peace. For example, in Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian, recipes for brawn or saltison are common. Lithuanians prepared head roll. To prepare it, boil the pork head for 3-4 hours, adding spices and garlic to the broth. Then, having cooled a little, they take out the facial bones and roll the layers of meat with skin into a roll.

With twine and food film form the product and allow it to cool under pressure for several hours. This roll is served chilled, thinly sliced ​​into portioned slices. Perfect fit for him spicy sauces with horseradish or garlic.

Vegetables

It cannot be said that Lithuanian cuisine glorifies vegetables and uses them widely, as, for example, the cuisines of the peoples Far East or the Mediterranean. Most often in recipes we meet onions, carrots, potatoes and beets. But the Lithuanians, of course, are preparing unusual snacks and fresh seasonal vegetables. Do you want something unusual, but without overseas delicacies? cook stuffed cucumbers in Lithuanian.

It is best to take fruits of small size. The number of ingredients depends on their size relative to each other. My cucumbers, cut into halves lengthwise. With a teaspoon, carefully scoop out the pulp. Peel boiled carrots and beets, cut into small cubes, mix with chopped pulp, season vegetable oil, sprinkle with salt, sugar and spices. You can add a few drops if you like. lemon juice, chopped blue onion, minced garlic. We fill the cucumber boats and serve to the table.

Bakery

Lithuanians are very fond of pies and casseroles baked in the oven. They are prepared with salty and sweet fillings. Lithuanian pastries are very diverse. If you want to master it, be sure to try making gingerbread cookies Meduolis.

Sift a glass of rye and wheat flour, sauté in a dry frying pan. Add 400 g of warmed honey, mix thoroughly. Pour in a tablespoon of vodka (preferably Lithuanian, with spices). To make the gingerbread fragrant, add an incomplete teaspoon of ground ginger, a pinch of lemon zest, a couple of black peppercorns and 3-4 cloves. The dough must be thoroughly kneaded for at least half an hour. It will acquire the necessary plasticity and roll out easily. Cut out curly gingerbread or simply cut into squares. Bake in a preheated oven for about 5 minutes.

Fish dishes

Lithuanian cuisine gives a worthy place to fish dishes. with mushrooms and cucumbers" may seem unusual, because more often we eat cucumbers without heat treatment. But in this dish they play an important role.

Burbot skin is tough, it is better to remove it. Carefully separate the meat from the bone, remove the insides. The liver of this fish is edible, the main thing is not to damage the gallbladder. Cut the fillet into portioned pieces, roll in flour, fry in oil until half cooked. Separately, fry the onion and mushrooms, cut into half rings. Put a layer of onions, fish, thinly sliced ​​cucumbers into a saucepan, and top with mushrooms and onions. We also send the liver here. Add a glass of broth and white wine, salt and pepper. You can stew this dish on a small burner or in the oven. Boiled potatoes are perfect for such fish as a side dish.

Dishes with mushrooms

Lithuanian cuisine has many wonderful dishes with mushrooms. They are stuffed with pies, added to soups and borscht, stuffed with zrazy.

One of the most popular recipes is stewed morels. These mushrooms grow in forests throughout the mainland, and in Lithuania they are considered a real delicacy.

We clean half a kilogram of morels from the ground and impurities, soak for an hour in water, rinse thoroughly under a tap. Like all forest ones, they need to be pre-boiled. It is enough to let them boil for 10 minutes. Drain the broth, and transfer the mushrooms to a wok, pour oil and fry. Sprinkle with flour (a handful is enough), add a glass of sour cream and simmer. If the sour cream is too thick, you may need some water. This dish goes well with cereal side dishes.

The formation of the national Lithuanian cuisine took place under the influence of many factors: wars, seafaring and fishing traditions, peculiarities of the location of the region on the way from Europe to Asia.

Surprisingly, Lithuanian dishes manage to demonstrate similarities with other Eastern European cuisines, historical proximity to the Slavic cuisine tradition, as well as a fairly pronounced influence of Scandinavian and German gastronomic culture. Due to the fact that in the Middle Ages the Grand Dukes invited Karaites to live in the territory of the Principality of Lithuania, Lithuanian cuisine adopted some features characteristic of Jewish, Tatar, Georgian, Hungarian and Romanian cuisine.

Under such influence, two culinary trends were formed in Lithuania. One of them, the old Lithuanian, was developed by the gentry - the nobility of the Lithuanian society. Old Lithuanian cuisine, highly revered in Europe, was characterized by gourmet dishes of meat and game (beef with berry sauce, black grouse and pheasants with juniper fruits, bulls stuffed with bear meat, smoked quails, hares stuffed with thrush, pates from waterfowl, Samogitian goose stew, hare liver with beef muzzle galantine).

In view of the collapse of the Commonwealth, the Novolitovskaya direction of national cuisine was formed, based on peasant traditions. At this time, the most important ingredient in Lithuanian dishes is potatoes, which are used to make zrazy, pancakes, zeppelins, dumplings, kugelis, and vedarai. Soups based on cabbage and beets, dumplings, Baltic fish, black pudding are very popular.

Compared to Latvian and Estonian dishes, Lithuanian cuisine is characterized by a very subtle, almost imperceptible, "marine" accent. Rather, it should be called “field”, because game, berries, starchy foods, cereals, honey, and milk are actively used to prepare national Lithuanian dishes.

Traveling to is an occasion to get acquainted with the magnificent dishes of local cuisine. The widest range of delicious culinary masterpieces will not leave anyone indifferent.

First meal

First of all, a feature of the local cuisine is the variety of authentic first courses. It is definitely recommended to taste the classic Lithuanian mushroom borscht with “ears”. The so-called "ears" are prepared from boiled dried mushrooms. It should be noted that the favorite mushrooms for Lithuanians are chanterelles. Slightly less popular mushrooms, boletus and boletus.

Another popular first course is the original sweet soup with prunes, apples, sour cream and cinnamon. Incredibly tasty meat soup on rice broth with stewed tomatoes, various variations of Samogitian beer soup (with croutons, cheese, spices, sour cream, bacon), as well as soups with smoked meats (pork ribs, goose, pork cheek).

The famous “shaltibarshchiai” is also very popular - cold beetroot cooked on kefir. It is believed that the color of this soup should resemble the bud of a tender June wild rose. One of its key ingredients is hot boiled potatoes with dill, which are served separately. It is customary to “accompany” each spoonful of ice beetroot with a piece of scalding potatoes. Among Lithuanians, it is customary to eat this dish with both hands at the same time.

Main courses

As a second course, Lithuanians prefer potatoes of various preparations. While traveling around, you should definitely try the "main" Lithuanian national dish - zeppelins, which are large potato dumplings with various fillings. You can also opt for other potato dishes popular among Lithuanians: ploksteinis (pudding), švilpikai (baked zrazy), vederai (sausages), Žemaičiu bliny (pancakes), kugelis (casserole).

Among the main meat dishes, you should definitely try the famous grilled sausages, kumpis (pork hams), brawns, sorcerers (dumplings), various meat rolls, skilandis (pork with spices, smoked in a pig's stomach), as well as stewed rabbit with sour cream or redcurrant jelly . Perhaps the most spectacular and delicious meat dish is an example of Old Litovian cuisine - fire hunting sausages.

As for fish, despite the seaside location and the abundance of rivers, Lithuanians consume fish to a limited extent. At the same time, they give preference to magnificent eel, herring, smelt, herring and salmon. Fish, as a rule, is served smoked, salted or baked in dough.

While traveling around, you should definitely try the incredibly tasty Karaite dish kibinai, which has long become Lithuanian national. It's about about pies stuffed with minced lamb.

Wonderful Lithuanian dairy products are very popular: young cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream. Lithuania is famous for its dark varieties rye bread with spices, which retains its taste for several weeks.

desserts

A gastronomic journey through will be incomplete without "acquaintance" with the masterpieces of the country's confectionery art - the švyturis cake and the national šakotis (horned) cake.

The drinks

Popular Lithuanian drinks are: very strong natural coffe, "caraway water" and homemade kvass. It is customary to cook kvass on rye wort with the addition of honey, herbs and dried fruits. Instead of tea, the so-called bubbles with linden, herbs, and berries are popular. In almost every family and institution Catering there is a tradition of making homemade berry wine and midus (a strong honey-herbal tincture for alcohol).

+1 -0 You have already voted